When Did GOP Stop Supporting Our Troops?

Where have all the yellow ribbons gone?

In the last presidential election cycle, just four years ago, unflinching support for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan was a given among Republican voters and candidates, and a cudgel with which to batter Democrats.

Our men and women in uniform were unassailable symbols back then. In a campaign where flag lapel pins and whether a candidate put their hand over their heart for the National Anthem were deemed to be important issues, unwavering support for the troops was as a fundamental Republican position.

No more.

In the GOP presidential debate held in September at the Ronald Reagan library in California, candidate Ron Paul elicited a round of applause from the Republican audience when he called for turning off the air conditioning to soldier barracks in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only were these creature comforts a waste of tax dollars, but they were making life so comfortable for troops that they were inclined to stay in those countries longer as occupying forces.

"Yeah," the crowd cheered. "How dare those infantrymen enjoy luxuries like air conditioning when the cost is coming out of my paycheck," they seemed to demand.

Wow. When did U. S. service men and women go from heroes to pampered layabouts in the worldview of the Republican Party?

At yet another GOP presidential debate later in September in Orlando, an active duty Army soldier asked the candidates a question via video, appearing on camera from Iraq in a shirt with "army" splayed across his chest.

When the question turned out to be about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and the man proclaimed that, "I am a gay soldier," the crowd booed him. Not one of the candidates on stage defended this person who was voluntarily offering to lay down his life in the service of his country.

Really? When did the Republican Party move from "These Colors Don't Run" bumper stickers to booing active duty soldiers on the front lines?

In these tough economic times, perhaps the disappearance of civility in the GOP can be explained. While distasteful, the hearty cheers for executions at one Republican presidential debate and the vocal support for letting uninsured sick people die at another debate can possibly be rationalized as fearful responses to uncertainty and shared financial suffering. It would be a stretch, but it could be done.

But this new trend of heaping scorn upon active duty U.S. soldiers who volunteered to fight and die in two wars begun by, and once blindly supported by, this same Republican Party is a sad and surprising symbol of how far from the mainstream today's GOP has drifted.

Rick Blaine is an award-winning broadcaster and columnist.